Kligerman Wins Pole First Time Out

Parker Klingerman to jump into a Nationwide Series car this weekend at Kansas. (Photo courtesy of the ARCA Series)

By Nick Bromberg | Senior Correspondent
RacinToday.com

Kansas City, Kan. – Parker Kligerman grabbed the pole for his first-ever Nationwide race at Kansas Speedway, just two days after winning the ARCA race at Kansas.

Kligerman ran a lap of 172.778 mph, bumping series points leader Kyle Busch off of the top spot.

Heck, he even took NASCAR by surprise as his pole victory forced series officials scurrying in search of the correct pronunciation of his last name. (For the record it is klig-ER-man)

But it’s not like he hasn’t had success before, because the Kansas win Thursday was his eighth ARCA of the season.

Kligerman said on Thursday that he didn’t have any expectations for his Nationwide debut. But at the same time, he probably didn’t think he was going to qualify first either.

But still, he said, there really aren’t any.

“It certainly doesn’t change our expectations for the race. We’re just here to run laps and have fun doing it,” Kligerman said.

“I don’t think we’re here to set the world on fire. This was kind of something that happened out of some hard work with the whole team.”

Given how well the car looked in qualifying, Kligerman may have a lot of fun. He said the ARCA race Thursday did help quite a bit, even though the Nationwide cars run a tapered spacer on the engine that reduces horsepower and Goodyear, instead of Hoosier tires.

“There’s legitimate speed in the car, but like I said, I don’t know what these Goodyear tires do over a 100 lap run or a 60 lap run so I’d just like to be able to run up there and stay with the (leaders),” Kligerman said.

While Penske Racing Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch said while he didn’t know Kligerman that well, he felt that Kligerman was in a great situation, driving for Penske.

“I’ve seen Parker in action and have been impressed with his skills. With the program at Penske Racing, running ARCA, you’re going to have superior equipment. That’s always a kid’s dream to go out there and showcase his talent in good cars and then be able to produce good results, and make last lap passes or restart passes like he did (Thursday),” Busch said, “I haven’t followed him that closely. I have communicated with him. I feel like he’s an up-and-coming star who has his head on straight and doing the right things on the race track and that’s the most important part.”